Local enthusiasts.

I was at a local community meeting this week and the lady who was checking in the participants recognized me! She had a copy of "Travels in a Blue Chair" and was telling everyone who would listen how much she enjoyed the book.

Today, I was participating at a local clean up day for our neighbourhood park. One of the main organizers had seen an article about me in the local paper and asked if I had a copy that he could ask me to sign. I did.

Wow, it is great to receive lots of positive feedback from all over the world but even nicer to get some in your own backyard!!

The Morning Show on ITV in the UK

I will be visiting some friends in England this summer and have been researching some of the local "chat shows" telecast in the United Kingdom.

One of the biggies is "The Morning Show" on the ITV network. I will be contacting them to see if they would like their viewers to learn more about "Travels in a Blue Chair".

The program airs at 10 am each weekday morning, so since my plane arrives in London at 6 am, it could work out quite well.

I hope that they think it will too!

An email from British Columbia

Recently I received a wonderful email from a young college student in Victoria, who had recently become disabled.

She was struggling because her parents were reluctant to support her in planning a trip to the US, even though she had travelled extensively prior to the onset of her illness.

I was asked for advice, and  I simply told her that she should go for it.  Her friends at the other end would be waiting to meet her and help out, if necessary.  I explained that things would certainly go wrong, as they always do,  but that was just part of the fun.

It is always great to meet new travellers looking to take up the challenge, and it gratifies me that "Travels in a Blue Chair" is really making a difference out there!!

TTC Wheel Trans - Disabled Adventurer

I ride the TTC, which is the local mass transit system here in Toronto, each day into the downtown part of the city.

A few weeks ago a woman working for the TTC asked to take some photos of riders using the system, for their newsletter.  I had my picture snapped and hopefully I will be included in the next edition.

I explained to the reporter that they could point out that "North America's Disabled Adventurer" rides the TTC !!

Here's hoping!

The book in braille and talking book format

I have been contacted by Scott Rains of the Rolling Rains Report. Scott is doing a consulting stint for Bookshare.org and has asked me to get my book digitized into Daisy format, for people with print disabilities.

I have always wanted "Travels in a Blue Chair" to be available in alternate format for the visually impaired. Bookshare is funded by private organizations and makes books available when authors agree.

I am really looking forward to reaching a new audience of travel lovers!! I am sure they will enjoy all the funny stories in the book too!

Great reading last Friday !

I went to the reading on Friday, and I expected that it would only take an hour or so, as I understood that I was second on the agenda, out of a total of three respondents. 

When I arrived, it turned out that the organizers had received a lot of late interest after putting posters up around the village.

I actually was fifth, and just before an intermission!  The whole event lasted from 7-10 pm, and the little coffee house was packed to the rafters.  In fact, the overflow had to sit and listen from out in the main lobby.

There were lots of really good poetry readings, many of them original, and the moderator always recited something brief, between introductions.

I read a story from Fiji, out of my book "Travels in a Blue Chair", and it was warmly received, with lots of great feedback.

It was a very worthwhile evening and opened my eyes to all the other closet authors out there composing in the dark!

Many thanks to all the folks at the Theatre of Change,  involved for having me out to this wonderful recital.

Big Guy's Little Coffee Shop, reading Fri Mar 19 7pm.

I have been invited to participate in a literary event at a cool coffee house here in the west end of Toronto on Friday evening, March 19 at 7 pm - 9 pm

The Big Guy's Little Coffee Shop is located at 2861 Lake Shore Blvd W. in Etobicoke (between 4th and 5th streets), here is a link to their website...

http://www.bigguycoffee.com/

The event is run by the "Theater of Change" and will involve many authors, including poets.  

It will be great to meet lots of other authors and see the reactions to one of my stories.

Many thanks to Mohamed for the invitation!

Published...the latest Abilities magazine!

Jennifer forwarded me a copy of the latest Abilities magazine and "Travels in a Blue Chair" was included in a section outlining various book by disabled authors.

The magazine has a wide audience of disabled people throughout North America.

It is great to see that others are out there writing up their experiences so that many people can benefit from experience.

Additionally, I was asked to provide some thoughts on possibly writing an article for an upcoming issue. The next editorial meeting is in May, so we'll keep in touch and I will look forward to working with the magazine again later this year!

Many thanks to Jennifer for all her great support!

World Book Day.

Today is World Book Day!!  I have really never thought about it, because it seems to be very low key (I only found out about it on Twitter just now), but it is a great idea.

The wonderful thing about books is that they take you to adventures or ideas that you may never have thought about before.  Books can inspire you.

I wish I had known about World Book Day ahead of time so that I could have participated in an event, but for this year I am just happy to know that someone, somewhere, will pick up "Travels in a Blue Chair" and enjoy the stories.

In the end, that is all any author can really ask for!

LeDrew Live on CP24 - CablePlus 24

I have sent a note off to the program LeDrew Live on CablePulse 24, which is here in Toronto.

The program is quite wide ranging and they often have people on have a different point of view that may be interesting. Additionally, viewers can phone in and ask questions. The show is on during prime time at 8 pm, so there would be a large audience.

The program is simulcast on radio 1050 am, so people can listen in while driving in the car!

I am hoping to hear back is a short while, as it could be my first interview of 2010.